How to Build a Hackintosh That’s Faster than a Mac Pro for Half the Price - Updated

Thanks to you guys, I've updated the How to Build a Hackintosh guide. It now includes the latest hardware recommendations, including the latest nVidia Fermi cards, and should work perfectly with OS X 10.6.6. There are a few other updates to the guide as well -- thanks again for your help. All in all, the machine is now even faster and cheaper than it was when I first wrote the tutorial six months ago. If you were thinking about building such a machine, now's the time! Here are shortcuts to the full equipment lists on Amazon:

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46 Comments

Hey Koo,

I really appreciate the update of your famous Hackintosh How-To.
Unfortunately I'll still have to wait a little because I recently spend a lot of money on data security (means raid system). If you're interested I'd like to share my guide on how to securely store your media with you, so that you can post it on nofilmschool.com.
Please let me know if you're interested in that.

I hoe you will keep updating your Hackintosh How-To in future. Thanks a lot.
-Sebastian

what video card would you recommend for the Hackintosh PRO setup? The same one you marked in your amazon.com link for the "normal" hackintosh?
Is that one working with Adobes mercury engine in Premiere and After Effects CS5?

nice, i will definitely be referring to your guide when the time comes to build my new beast.

just curious though, why no sandy bridge? its barely more expensive, but 40-50% faster according to PassMark. also an SSD for the OS / apps i'm told is the #1 most effective way to boost performance. though its true, that will run you another 100-200.

maybe you can do another 'update' down the line when...

1. os x lion is released / compatibility issues get sorted out.
2. the new FCP is released and the performance boosting hardware is accounted for
3. thunderbolt expansion is available

nice, i will definitely be referring to your guide when the time comes to build my new beast.

just curious though, why no sandy bridge? its barely more expensive, but 40-50% faster according to PassMark. also an SSD for the OS / apps i’m told is the #1 most effective way to boost performance. though its true, that will run you another 100-200.

maybe you can do another ‘update’ down the line when…

1. os x lion is released / compatibility issues get sorted out.
2. the new FCP is released and the performance boosting hardware is accounted for
3. thunderbolt expansion is available

Well, no one can comment officially since anyone with a developer's copy is under a NDA. But considering that Lion will have to work with all current working Mac hardware, I would expect there won't be a problem. And if there is, I'm sure some enterprising hacker who knows more than me will figure it out.

Hi Koo, I'm putting one together next week from these new specs. Any word on what kind of e-sata card would work with this? I have one in my G5 now and use it for a poor man's RAID setup. (2 4TB LAcie enclosures mirrored....4TB of space...backed up somethin fierce.:-) I would like to just move that on over to the new hackintosh.:- Can I simply use the card that's in the G5 now?

Wow!
What a nice surprise!
Not knowing about this Hackintosh thing I'm putting my desktop pc together this weekend (parts on the way), and at least the 3 main components (Mobo, RAM and Videocard) are the same you're recommending.
Greeeeat!!!
I can't wait to have it up and running since the first Mobo I received from amazon was DOA.

First thank you for efforts for me your informatios are invaluable:)
Did you try any capture card like AJA or Matrox mxo2 or something similar?
Because I'd like to build this machine and use it mainly to grading with Apple color or Davinci
Thanks again:)

Not to sound ungrateful (TOO LATE!), but I'm interested in putting together a Hackintosh that would compete with the MacBook Pro. It's easy to find out-of-the-box PCs that destroy the MacBook Pro at its price point, but no one seems to have put together a guide for creating a powerhouse notebook machine. In searching the Web, all I'm finding is people who want to find the cheapest possible notebook they can convert.

If anyone's got any ideas or links, pass 'em along!

(And thanks for the great guide, Koo! If I wasn't looking for portability, I'd be all over this!)

Don, I looked around as well and couldn't find anything so far. I am very interested in a Hackintosh Laptop that has the same or even better benchmarks than the top of the line MacBook Pro. (A laptop with NVIDIA, so that the Adobe Mercury Playback Engine makes optimal use of the laptop hardware.)

I was looking to build this machine fairly soon and had been considering going with SB but I need a machine that just works. It is going to be my main work machine, so I can't be constantly tinkering with it. Is it true that there is no vanilla support for sandybridge yet? Should I just go with a setup (Such as the one in this guide) That is proven to work? -- If you are familiar with sandy bridge builds etc and don't mind helping me, could you please shoot me an email? Thanks so much if you can help. rob@hirerobhere.com

Found a stash of HP xw 8400's that were used for video editing now effectively decomissioned and wondering if I can turn one into a Hackintosh with dual boot to drive the right Nvidia card and 3d screen?

I can do my day to day stuff on the normal mac mode then switch into PC to drive the screen in 3d etc.

Thank you so much for taking the time to update your guide. I am planning on building a hackintosh in the near future (and will use your equipment links). However, I am now interested in making a sandy bridge hackintosh. It would be great to see a "sandy bridge hackintosh" amazon list of products. Any chance you could make that list for us? Thanks in advance for your help!

1. I want to make a system that can edit DSLR file (5D MAK 2) with CS 5.5 (premier and some compositing with AE) and if possible i want to install LION and FCP Studio (Mac) later.....

Should i make system with "Intel i 7 3.x Ghz" (with Nvidia card for Premier support ) or a system with Intel 2600 k (I want to use Nvidia card instead of the Ati graphics card). What n vidia card should i use with SANDY BRIDGE SYSTEM.

I'm going to make both the system as i saw on your site...Tell me so that i order for it....
TONS OF THANKS FOR THE SITE…

Hey koo, I want to build a hackintsoh as like most editors I don't want to spend the ridiculous money for a mac pro, but I was wondering what the advantages and disadvantages are between having say a "Dual Quad Core" to a "Single Quad Core". also what set up would you recommend for a dual core hackintosh?

Yes, I was looking for that too, because I want to record music with mine... if I find a motherboard with the same chipset and Firewire, will I be ok you think? Thank you very much, great guide you have put together!

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